The TREE roots expand to Mozambique and Malawi

(ILO News) Harare: A delegation of 17 officials from Mozambique and Malawi visited projects being implemented by the Country Office for Zimbabwe and Namibia around Zimbabwe under the ILO TREE – Training for Rural Economic Empowerment and QIA - Quality improvement of Informal Apprenticeships methodologies. The TREE Programme has been successfully implemented in 40 districts in a period of almost ten years. This ‘look and learn’ visit was intended to create grounds for engaging constituents in both countries and the training agencies on delivering training, modalities for disseminating the methodology, to know and discuss lessons learned and the most effective methods and processes, as well as political commitment to financing TREE-related programmes with different counterparts in Zimbabwe.

TREE is a local economic development methodology developed to promote market driven community-based technical and vocational skills development in rural areas. This strategy expands training and employment opportunities for disadvantaged groups, such as women and youth. The approach identifies potential economic empowerment programmes in a particular community, leads to designing of appropriate specific training needs for that economic activity and build the required capacity of the community for the identified economic opportunity. The ILO has provided post-training support, which includes guidance in the use of production technologies, some basic occupational health and safety connected to the activity, facilitates access to credit, and provides assistance on group formation to ensure that individuals or groups can initiate and sustain the economic activities beyond the life-cycle of the project.

QIA improvement of Informal Apprenticeship refers to the traditional system of skills transmission of a trade from a master-crafts person (MC) to a young person, who learns the trade on the job by way of observation, imitation and repetition. By working with and assisting their MC, they acquire the skills. The QIA methodology has been applied in the programme in Zimbabwe and since its inception in 2010 has built the capacity of over 1300 MC, linked them to over 3,300 apprentices and supported the systems and structures at district, provincial and national level to address shortcomings in systems of informal apprenticeship. MCs also provide on-the-job skills training and mentoring youth in urban areas. The programme is working with industry experts and microfinance institutions to improve the businesses of MCs in selected demand driven trades, and is successfully creating self and wage employment opportunities for the youth upon completion of the apprenticeship.

The ten year programme has seen communities thrive and changes in livelihoods from bee-keeping, poultry, fish farming and a variety horticultural projects in the 40 districts.

The delegation visited two projects in Mutare based on QIA (Quality Improvement Apprenticeship) methodology and in Mutoko, agricultural based projects modelled on the TREE methodology. They had the opportunity to discuss with local authorities from provincial, district and local levels, as well as the beneficiaries on their perception of the methodologies. They also toured a common facilities centre, a holding-house of equipment for carpentry, welding and joinery, which the project funded and established to enable the young people to work and refine the products of their trade under supervisions of the MCs. In Mutoko, they visited a vocational training centre, which was instrumental in the design and training for horticultural products and the after-training support required by the beneficiaries. This particular project has long expanded into value added products aiming at markets beyond their immediate vicinity.